Thanks to a two-year funding grant from the Energy Savings Trust, we’ve been employing two full time outreach support officers across Worcestershire to help people better manage their energy use and costs – and ultimately, live in a more comfortably heated home.

The Warmth in Worcestershire project is designed to engage and deliver impartial information, advice and guidance to more than 2,300 households. Most of the householders are already in our database having previously received our help through the Household Support Fund.

Following up with customers now offers that crucial opportunity to help with the knowledge and tools required to support themselves without the need for repeat funding.

Our two Outreach Officers, Annie and Sian, deal with complex casework advice. Often residents are completely bewildered by their energy use and running costs – and have not engaged with their billing or energy suppliers for many years. It can take time and patience to establish a trustworthy relationship, but the benefits are always worth it. One to one energy saving advice which can appear quite common sense to many, is often the most useful starting point. It’s these small behavioural changes which can often make the most impact -and the difference between staying on top of bills and falling into unmanageable debts.

Here, Sian tells us about the support she’s given to residents in a retirement complex in Pershore. “There are 52 apartments many of which are funded through social housing. We had a great turn out at the presentation event I’d arranged, and we had some useful – often lengthy discussions about their energy usage and the struggles they faced because of community billing.

“The bills were split equally amongst the residents, and they felt they had no control over the amount they paid regardless of usage. I explained the many ways they could save on their gas and electric but also their water, for which they were all independently responsible. We discussed simple changes that could easily be made, for example by using a washing up bowl instead of fully filling the sink with hot water, limiting the use of the tumble dryer and washing machines in the community laundry and remembering to turn the light off when they finish.

“Many of the residents requested home visits following the presentation where we delivered more tailored advice. This has proved invaluable – it seems that a large percentage of the immersion water tanks were still running 24/7 after they had all been turned on over winter due to the gas boiler breaking down, but many had simply never been turned off again. And as most of the residents had electric showers, they simply didn’t need this water to be heated so often. Clearly this was a great communal saving, and they took up the opportunity to get this changed.

“In other instances, some room thermostats had been fitted near the hot immersion tank cupboard and so it wasn’t giving a true room temperature reading - consequently the radiators never got hot enough in the winter, and they were always cold. Fortunately, this is now being addressed and the residents will be more comfortable in their homes.

“I also helped many with their water bills, one lady was being billed on the general rateable value of her home but had not received the single person discount for the last 7 years! I also provided residents with low-cost measures including draught excluders, energy saving light bulbs and radiator reflector foils ready for the winter to retain the heat and keep costs and usage down. Needless to say, the word spread, and many more residents asked for our help.

“I calculated that if every resident could save just £1 per day on their combined utility usage it would give them an annual collective saving of nearly £19,000. Not bad for some simple, yet effective advice.”